Of Forgone Memories
by AikoujOi
Summary: Vivian tells Claire some of his memories of staying at the mental hospital.


This was nice overall she thought, walking down memory lane into the past with her husband walking the once active walls of Stapleton. Of course Claire was worried(and still is) that Vivian is going to have a break down in the middle of his old room or elsewhere in the now abandoned mental hospital. Having this little trip on a beautiful day helped things too, not a cloud in sight.

They had gotten there about a hour and half ago, Vivian telling her every detail of what he could remember as they worked their way though; some funny(A guy once peed "Go to Hell Stapleton" there and proceeded to flip the nurses off before running out the unguarded doors over there), some sad and some horrifying(you can hear the screams of those being lobotomized from here).

"That is terrifying, I'm not sure I can handle that even for one day." Claire commented, as Vivian turn to face her with a firm look on his face.

"Claire, believe me when I say you are damn lucky you were only here for one night," She nodded, agreeing with him as she looked around the hallway they were walking in at the moment, "And extremely lucky given that you have visions that they didn't decided to "cure you" the next day or something."

Claire shot up to look at him with a semi horror stricken look on her face, "They did that?!"

"Yeah," Vivian said softly before turning to continue walking towards the theater, "I was one of those unlucky ones to get experimented on so early."

"Oh, I'm..I'm sorry they did that Vivian," Claire said, catching up to him and giving him a hug, "Good thing you weren't lobotomized though."

Vivian was holding her close with an arm around her back. "Yeah, good thing you weren't either, otherwise we would've been like the rest of the morons in this damn city."

Claire burst out laughing as Vivian let out a chuckle as he push open the doors to reveal a huge room with a stage facing them on the other side of room. The whole room was practically bare, nothing really left unless they counted the red walkway path leading up to the stage. They walked in until they could see the balcony above them.

Claire looked around in awe walking a few steps away while Vivian walked closer to her. The walls were peeling, the ceiling was falling apart, and in some parts had graffiti on them, needless to say Vivian was all to0 happy to see the place get destroyed.

"My friend and I would sneak down here on some nights and pretend we were dancing in some royal ballroom," Vivian stated, nostalgia tinging his voice.

"You had a friend here?" Claire was curious, Vivian hadn't really told her if he made any friends or not here.

"Yeah, my cellmate actually, his name was Avery, sad story his parents were the ones that committed him here at a young age."

"Geez what wonderful parents." Claire responded with a disgusted and sarcastic look on her face.

"Yeah, he was a couple of years older than me, He escaped with me, or well he escape the night before in stolen janitor clothes." Vivian revealed as they kept walking around.

"You see the balcony Claire?"

"Yeah?"

"Some of the women from the female ward would sneak out here to watch us sometimes. Word got around that me and Avery dancing, but of course none of the staff knew about it.

Vivian then proceeded to tell her how they used to put on plays here and have dances from time to time. He told her he liked the hoedown themed ones, always taking part of the dancing, while trying to drag Avery out to the dance floor and subsequently failing to succeed in him dancing with him half the time(Claire couldn't help but giggle at that last part),

"He was...shy pretty much," Vivian explained, as he propped himself up to sit on the edge of the stage.

He looked up at the balcony again for a few seconds before speaking in a solemn tone of voice, "Some people committed suicide over there." Vivian was pointing to a spot just underneath the edge of the second level.

"Me and Avery were hiding behind the curtains over there one time one of them happened" He added on after pausing for a second.

"That must've be scarring to see."

"We thought it was one of the staff until we heard the sickening thud and we went to investigate."

"Shit..." Was all Claire was able to say.

"Come on, I'll show you some of the rooms plus the one where I stayed." Vivian announced, jumping off the stage as Claire followed Vivian out the doors.

A couple of turns or so and they ended up in the hallways full of rooms, including the one Vivian stayed in for 13 or so years. If Claire was honest, and she knows Vivian is able to pick up on it, this place was feeling more depressing to her each minute that passed by as they walked down the halls.

He pointed to each room as they passed them, telling Claire about the patient that stayed in each of those rooms. One had a patient that would scream in the middle of the night every other day, another one had a patient that would constantly threaten everyone around him, and yet another one who he said didn't deserve to be there. He pointed out a few more until they were there, the room that held the most memories for him and to a lesser extent, Claire.

"I think I remember having a vision this place was gonna be desolated of...crap sometime in the future, or future at the time that is." Claire corrected herself there as they both were standing in front of a room.

"Really?"

"Yeah, it was on the second night I believe."

"I see. Well shall we go in?" Vivian asked, almost hesitating to go in, but instead just grabbing Claire's hand before walking in. Claire looked around at the walls in the rooms, noticing the ages old carving her husband made.

"Your poem is still on the wall, and its still clear too,:

:"Hard to believe that turned out to be a hit country song." Vivian commented, chuckling a bit as Claire smiled at him.  
"You wrote it."

"Yeah I know but still, a song that came out a four line poem?"

"Haha, but you made it work Viv, so well that practically most every single damn country blog on the net is saying you're the next best country songwriter." Claire smiled as she laughed a bit, before turning back to look at the carvings her husband had made.

"I didn't make those carvings though," Vivian pointed to a few words that would either really close or would overlap some of his writing in some areas. "Avery made that one, its in Russian though."

Claire walked over to the other side of the room to a spot on the wall where Vivian was pointing, "It means "Silverman is a brainless, drooling, dickwad, idiotic excuse of a therapist" or that;s what he told me. He came in to talk to us one time and saw that, asked what it mean and Avery told him it said Silverman is a great therapist."

"And let me guess, he fell for it?" Claire asked, giggling.

"Yep!" Claire ended up laughing harder,

"It..it sounds like you had someone to help you get through this hellish place, that's good,"

"Yeah, he would comfort me though the pain and sadness that I felt and vice versa. We helped each other survived."

"That was nice."

"He also taught me a bunch of stuff, how to cuss in Russian for one thing,"

"Somehow I don't doubt that."

"Someone else made that carving, must've been after I escaped."

"The one that says Johnson is Satan then '73?"

"Yeah, must've been the guy in charge of this place at that time or someone that person had problems with, I have a feeling its the former."

"When I was here, for those three days, I told Ethel about the detective and how I wonder how the hell he gotten the job, she interrupted me and told me a 1 week old puppy would be a better detective than Kay would be in his lifetime. Turns out she hated him, ex-friend from high school." Claire clarified when Vivian made a quizzical look on his face.

"Yeah, most everyone I talked to here though he was incompetent." Vivian stated, as Claire spotted another writing on the wall in the hallway outside of the room.

"Northfield, Mass, the town of brain dead waste of idiots." Claire read out as Vivian walked up to her side.

"Which begs the question, how did a smart girl like you end up here?"

"Paul had family," Claire replied before they started walking towards another part of the building. The female ward to be more exact.

"I kinda wonder whatever happened to Ethel sometimes." Claire said, her gaze still focused on the hallway ahead.

"I would like to know what happened to Avery." Vivian replied, in a soft voice that was latent with memories of happy and sad moments that he and Avery had shared.

After a minute of silence except for the sounds of their footsteps, they made it to the doorway leading into the female wing of Stapleton.

"That was Lisa's room over there, she was one of the nicest girls here, she didn't really deserved to be here, she just unfortunate to have episodes sometimes and her parents brought her here hoping they would cure her. " Vivian exclaimed in a sorrowful voice, he and Claire were standing in the doorway into the now dark and depressing room, "Me and Avery liked her."

"What happened to her?" Claire asked, softly while facing him.

"Avery and I would look after her during recreation times and in the cafeteria. We, along with a couple of other people, were her closest friends here. She was friendly. really nice, she had...she still had hopes of being out of here and owning a house," Vivian started, his eyes not once leaving the interior of the room, "Even though some told her that there is no fucking chance, she still held on to that hope Claire."

Claire didn't really have anything to say in response except nodding in understanding as he continued on.

"She would often claim that she would be the first of the group, to get out of here. She was just in her 20's Claire,"

Vivian didn't say anything after that knowing that Claire would pick up on the implications from the way he said the last part of the sentence. She got a vibe that she ended up dying from whatever cure they tried to do, but she didn't press on as she didn't want to make her husband feel any more sad.

What Claire ended up doing was hugging Vivian and giving him a kiss on the cheek as he rest on her for a minute or two before walking down towards a hallway.

"This hallway is where we carved our names," Vivian was pointing to a corner of the hallway where there was a small series of initials, starting with a "VT". "You should make your mark here too."

Vivian then reached into a pocket and brought out a small pocketknife. He then handed it over to Claire who looked at it for a second and then back to Vivian.

"Its ok, no one will catch us." Vivian quipped causing both of them to smile.

Claire proceeded to carve in her married name before giving Vivian the knife back, "This place is definitely giving me the creeps."

Vivian made no protest as he brought Claire into a hug and proceeded to give her a kiss, "I'll protect you from the monsters," He announced jokingly, causing Claire to smile and giggle at him.

"I want to do something first though," Vivian said, as he led her back out the way they came and to a different way leading to the balcony in the theater room, "There should be a room somewhere with the stuff that controls the sounds, there used to be speakers up on the walls up here."

Vivian explained, pointing to the now bare corners as he looked around to see if there was any electronics left behind.

Claire looked around at the chaires a bit before Vivian called her into one of the rooms where he apparently found an old mixer, They both proceeded to move the mixer out to the edge of the balcony.

"You know how I was able to control the computers and move the apples years ago?"

"Yeah, wait you're going to try and blast that thing with your mind? Claire asked, clarifying.

"Yep, or I think I should be able too," Vivian said, moving a little ways back before facing the sound mixer. Claire moved to a spot behind him as she didn't want to be in the way before watching.

Vivian closed his eyes and concentrated, he was happy that there was no noise, save for his breathing and Claire's movement to a spot near him. He held out his hands and took a deep breath before moving his arm back then suddenly thrusting them out, causing the mixer to fly off the edge and onto the ground below a little ways out. Claire laughed in amazement as she saw it flying out.

"That was awesome Vivian!" She exclaim, hugging him and bringing him in for a kiss before giggling.

"I feel like destroying now," Vivian said, smiling as he gave a laugh, "That is I feel like using my powers and..." He started to correct himself before being interuppted.

"Oh I know what you mean Vivian, I would love to watch you." Claire smiled as she watched a gleeful look wash over his face. Like if he was a little kid in a candy store.

"Great! I want to try it on the chairs." Vivian stated, as Claire nodded ok and movied back some for safety.

It was 15 minutes later and most of the chairs were now laying scattered around on the ground below. She was feeling a bit of a rush of adrenaline as she laughed and watched her husband destroy various things in the balcony. One of them was the old Exit sign above one of the doors and Vivian had mindblasted it off, quickly sending to the floor with a satisfying crash.

"I kinda wish I can do that," Claire laughs lightly as her husband smiled. She was now getting the urge to destroy the building as all it did was hold bad memories, "I want to help you destroy this place.

Vivian told her to give her a second as he thought he saw a pipe somewhere. He walked into the room where the sign used to be and rummaged around while Claire waited in the doorway. A minute later he came out with two, one for the both of them.

"Well shall we get started Claire? For Avery..."

"And for Ethel." Claire added.

"For everyone would was forced to stay in this fucking prison!" Vivian announced loudly before taking Claire's wrist and saying to "Follow me!" in Italian, causing Claire to let out a giggle.

Several holes in the walls and broken windows later, Claire was in the hallway leading to the Nurses station tearing out the walls with a crowbar she had found. She paused to catch her breath and she noticed how eerily quiet it was, but that last for a second before the air filled with the sounds of her husband yelling, "Die!" in Italian over and over from the aforementioned room, followed by the sounds of things being broken.

She continued destroying the hallway until she heard her husband calling for her. She ran in to find Vivian having found some spray paints, "They must've been left behind by the kids from Boston we heard on the news about." Vivian surmised as he handed a bottle to Claire.

The bottles had enough paint in them for the two to write their full names in what used to be the entrance to Stapleton, as well as some few other things. Vivian was watching Claire write, "I love Vivian Thompson, I sprayed painted it on a wall" causing him to laugh when he sensed something was up.

"Claire, I have a feeling someone is coming," Vivian said, catching her attention as he looked around, "It could be the police."

"Shit."

"Come on! This way!" Vivian exclaimed, pulling his wife back down the hallway and into another, leading into another wing.

They stopped to pause as they catch their breaths, they didn't say anything for a second or two, trying to see if they heard any noises or something. After a moment they let out a breath in relief right before they suddenly heard the unmistakable sound of feet walking,

"It is the police Claire," Vivian said hosting Claire up after she cussed under her breath. He then took off down another hallways and down a set of stairs leading to the morgue. They ended up running into an old supply closet a minute later.

"How the hell are we going to get out here Viv?" Claire questioned, as she catches her breath.

"I don't know...wait I got it," Vivian shouted with a look of realization on his face, "I'll pretend to be your grandmother from Italy, Vivian proclaimed before adding on, "The police were clueless back then, we didn't have to change our appearance much to get by right?"

"Yeah..." Claire said, before seeing where he was getting at. Vivian took off the jacket he had on and told her to put it on, "But what if they ended up recognizing me or.."

"Claire, do you remember what town we're in? By the time they connect the dots we'll be long gone back in Boston." Vivian calmly told her in low tone voice that she likes hearing.

Claire nodded feeling more at easy as Vivian asked her to put his long hair into a bun, She silently thanked her lucky stars that her hair was long enough for a ponytail as she took out her scrunchie and began fixing up Vivian's hair.

"I'm gonna be speaking nonsensical Italian and you can just make up what I'm saying."

"Sounds fine," Claire replied as they gave each a quick kiss before walking out.

Claire quickly fixed her hair to be covering parts of her face as they walked back to the main floor. They stopped just a few feet of where Vivian sensed the police were at and started speaking rapid random Italian sentences."

It took a second for Claire to think of what to say and made sure she said it loud enough for the police to hear, "It's alright Nana, I'm sure we'll get out of here." Claire even threw in a bit of a Southern accent for good measure, "Oh I knew this wasn't a good idea,"

Vivian let out some more sentences as they started walking towards the police, "I know, I know, I do agree, this here abandoned creepy as shit place is very interesting," Claire continued in that Southern drawl she was putting on, "But we gotten yourself more damn lost than a country singer in Hollywood."

The two walked into the area where there were two police officers, Vivian took this moment to exclaim in a falsetto tone of voice, happily in Italian.

One of the policeman then walked a bit closer and started speaking, "Hello ladies, I'm Officer Wilson, are you guys lost?"

"Oh yes, yes we are, I am so dang sorry, I just thought that this was gonna be a little exploring trip I swear Officer. My grandma here, who came from all the way from Italy to my little old town in Tennessee, she finds places like this so darn fascinating."

"I see, well there was a sign out in the entrance saying do not trespass.' Officer Wilson replied, to which Claire and Vivian faked confusion.

"Really? Oh my God I am so sorry, we didn't see it I swear Officer, this is our first time up this way, we're on our way to a Loretta Lynn concert."

The two officers then looked at them for a few seconds, Claire added on to her story which she hoped was good, "I swear we are good law abiding citizens of this here United States of America, we just got lost, that's all."

"Alright sorry Miss.."

"Diamond, Patsy Diamond." Claire lied, and to her relief the cops fell for it. She saw the cop was about to say something to Vivian to which she quickly told him that she doesn't know English.

"Miss Patsy Diamond, we just drove by and saw a car here. We thought there were kids in here messing with stuff again."

"Oh those darn vandals, they must've left before you guys came around cause me and my Nana here were looking in the basement for the past 20 minutes."

This time the second cop spoke up, "Well how about this, we escort you and your grandmother back to your car with nothing but a warning if you promise not to trespass again."

"We will," Claire said, before facing Vivian, thinking of the few words and sentences she knew in Italian. She ended up saying the whole "My daddy was a dollar.." poem that he taught her out to say in Italian once. Vivian nodded as if to say that he understood and Claire relayed the information to the cops as they started walking towards the front doors.

"Well sorry if we startled you ladies," one of the officers closed the door after Vivian got into the passenger seat, "Have fun at that concert."

"We will." Claire said, before driving off.

They waited in silence until they were a good ways out before breaking out of character and burst out laughing, not really believing that their little ruse has worked perfectly.

"I still can't fucking believe...they need to get a police force that passed middle school." Claire said, causing Vivian to burst out laughing again.

"I agree," Vivian took some breaths to get himself under control enough so he can talk to Claire, but it was kinda hard cause he would crack up due to what just happened.

"That was a nice Southern accent you put on Claire hahahaha, where did you learn to do that?"

"Paul's family, I just picked it up," Claire explained before putting on the accent again, only this time a little more exaggerated, "My momma was a daggum country song, I wrote on a fence down yonder."

Vivian couldn't help but crack up laughing that lasted for about a half a minute as Claire also laughed as she kept on driving back to their house.

The laughter subsided and they both fell into silence, having enjoyed their trip today, walking down memory lane, destroying things in there that left them feeling satisfying and successfully fooling the still clueless police.


End file.
